THE P RTAL
Advent 2013 Supplement
great heritage of songs and prayers and your own
methods of pastoral care.
Jackie: Another strong suit seems to be liturgy; what
have you to say to us about our liturgical patrimony?
Mgr Lopes: There are so many people who comment
on the Ordinariate from the outside and ask what all
this talk of patrimony is about. But that ki nd of talk
is like looking at a stained glass window from the
outside of a church; it’s kind of dark. You can make
out a few figures and maybe even a scene, but it’s not
until you enter into the church and the light pours in
that you see the richness of the multi-facetted glass
of different colours and that the vibrancy is brought
to life. The same thing is true with the Church and
the Ordinariate. The light of the Holy Spirit shining
through makes all of these elements of patrimony
sparkle and gives them their richness.
Page iii
to use the Roman Rites. So we have many people
in the Ordinariate who are, well, unfamiliar with
some of that wider tradition, the depth of tradition
in Prayer Book forms and Anglican Missal forms of
worship. In a certain sense it’s an irony because here’s
this wonderful liturgical patrimony and we have
Ordinariate communities saying, “Wait a minute,
that’s actually quite new“.
Jackie: You’ve hit the nail on the head really.
Ronald: I have used the Roman Office since it
came in those little loose-leaf books. Now I use the
Customary; I never used it as an Anglican! As a
Catholic I’ve become more Anglican!
Mgr Lopes: Let’s use that line, “As a Catholic
I’ve become more Anglican!” What a marvellous
thing! What a marvellous way to name the insight
and the truth of what Pope
Benedict has done, because this
To maintain your identity
has never happened before.
as an Ordinariate community this is the incorporation into
Catholic worship of a liturgical
in the context of a larger
development of the Roman Rite.
We here have thought a lot
about what constitutes Anglican
patrimony, particularly as it
involves the liturgy, and we
have a working definition. It is
Roman Catholic parish
to say that “Anglican liturgical
is no small challenge
patrimony is that which has
Fr Geissler: We are now in the
nourished the Catholic Faith,
process to producing the Rites
within the Anglican tradition during the time of
of Baptism, of Funerals, of Marriage and also of the
ecclesiastical separation, and has given rise to this
Mass. It helps, I think, to realise in an integral way,
new desire for full communion”.
what the specific elements of Anglican patrimony
are. So it’s enriching for everybody. I would say it’s
“It has nourished the faith”: these expressions
touching how God-centred your tradition is. This is
from the Anglican prayer books and how they are
important because liturgy is not about worldly things.
interpreted through the years - I’m thinking of the
It is about God and God’s saving work in the world
Comfortable Words, the Summary of the Law, the
and in our hearts.
Collect for Purity, the Prayer of Humble Access these are not museum pieces. They have sustained
Mgr Lopes: And this insight is very present in the
people in their faith because they have given
Anglican text.
expression, beautiful expression, to the truth! It is
a truth of God that truly liberates us and draws us
Fr Geissler: Another element is the beauty of the
deeper into the mystery of God and of ourselves. The language, because liturgical language should not be
fact that these prayers capture this truth in such a
everyday language. It should express the sacredness of
magnificent way sustains faith.
the mystery. It should raise our hearts and our minds
to heaven somehow.
“Throughout the years of ecclesiastical separation”:
well, that acknowledges the fact that Anglican
Jackie: We have, when we visit groups with The
Portal magazine, met cradle Catholics who say they
liturgical patrimony is not just 1549 or 1662, nor is
are coming to Ordinariate services because they
it just 1928 or 1976. We can’t go back to a specific
remind them of when they were a child.
period and say “this is it“, but you have to look at the
whole Anglican experience to see how that faith was
Ronald: We have discovered when we visit that the
nourished.
groups that use the ‘new old Rite’ - the Ordinariate
Rite - are the groups with young people. It’s very
Now we know that it’s an irony that many Angloweird. We come from a Roman Rite tradition.
Catholic communities in the Church of England,
The groups that have come over either use the
precisely to demonstrate their Catholic Faith, chose